Question

The total annual U.S. energy consumption is about 2×1020 joules. Part A What is the average power requirement for the United States, in watts? (Hint: 1 watt = 1 joule/s) Paverage = W

Answers

  1. Answer:

    6.34 × 10¹² W

    Explanation:

    Given:

    Annual consumption of energy in U.S. (E) = 2 × 10²⁰ J

    Average power requirement is, P_{avg}=?

    Now, we are given annual energy consumption. So, this means that, the energy consumption in a year is given.

    Now, let us calculate the number of seconds in a year.

    We know that,

    1 year = 365 days

    1 day = 24 hours

    1 hour = 60 min

    1 min = 60 s

    Therefore, 1 year = 365 × 24 × 60 × 60 = 31536000 s

    Now, the average power requirement in a year is given by the formula:

    P_{avg}=\frac{Total\ energy\ consumed}{Total\ time\ taken}

    Plug in the values given and solve for average power. This gives,

    P_{avg}=\frac{2\times 10^{20}\ J}{31536000\ s}\\\\P_{avg}=6.34\times 10^{12}\ J/s\\\\P_{avg}=6.34\times 10^{12}\ W\ \ \ [1\ W=1\ J/s]

    Therefore, the average power requirement for the United States, in watts is 6.34 × 10¹² W

Leave a Comment